Spokane Valley vacating part of Alki Avenue

An undeveloped portion of Alki Avenue is being vacated by Spokane Valley so a developer can use it for an additional exit and emergency vehicle access to a planned senior housing complex.

City Council members unanimously approved the vacation Tuesday night despite concerns that even though no plans existed for completing the section of Alki, it was included in a planning report as a street that should be considered for completion in the future.

Councilman Ben Wick said he wants the city to review how it evaluates future requests to vacate public property.

“I know we’ve been working on street preservation,” Wick told fellow council members, noting that the city’s plan for improving local access identifies numerous smaller streets such as Alki that should be completed to provide better access to nearby arterials. “Do we have any focus on which of these we should be moving forward on?”

The stretch of undeveloped right-of-way is 19 feet wide and nearly 167 feet long. It’s located east of the intersection with McCabe Road. The developer would use the extra land to provide an additional exit from the complex and to improve emergency vehicle access. Half of the Alki right-of-way width was vacated earlier, which is why the stretch of city land is so narrow.

The 5.8-acre project by Conard & Hill Development LLC would include 42 units of senior housing in a combination of 12 four-plex and tri-plex buildings. The site is located east of McDonald Road and south of Broadway Avenue.

Under the deal approved Tuesday night, the developer will bear all costs associated with transferring ownership of the property.